Nerd sniping

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nerd sniping is slang term for the action of giving an interesting problem to a person (usually a nerd), which will cause them to put a lot of effort into trying to solve the problem. The nerd stops all activity to devote attention to solving the problem, often at his or her own peril.

It was coined by xkcd author Randall Munroe in the 356th comic of the series on 12 December 2007.[1]

Techopedia on November 12, 2020 said:

Nerd sniping is a slang term that describes a particularly interesting problem that is presented to a nerd, often a physicist, tech geek or mathematician.

The nerd stops all activity to devote attention to solving the problem, often at his or her own peril. [2]

Beyond science, tech and math, the media agency Colle McVoy published 21 episodes of podcast between 2019 and 2021 called "Nerd Sniped" - "A podcast dedicated to chasing down the curious questions and challenges brands face today"[3][4]

It's also been used in the context of employers understanding neurodiverse employees with ADHD:

[ADHD] often produces the ability to 'hyperfocus', a kind of Godzilla attention laser beam that you can train on a complex task, which you won't let go of until it's done to an absurdly high standard. A legit superpower. But moving between tasks when you're in a hyperfocused state? Very hard. The nerd sniping risk is real.[5]

References[]

  1. ^ "Nerd Sniping". xkcd. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
  2. ^ "What is Nerd Sniping? - Definition from Techopedia". Techopedia.com. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
  3. ^ "NerdSniped". nerdsniped.fm. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
  4. ^ "‎NerdSniped on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
  5. ^ "Neurodivergent employees: Don't let employers take you for granted". Money Marketing. 2021-09-28. Retrieved 2022-01-04.

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